Facebook friends and followers – What is the difference?

If you’re not Facebook friends with a person, the only way that person can see all your “Public” posts is when they follow you. This way all your “Public” posts will appear in their news feeds.

On Facebook, following is what you do when you want to see a person’s updates but you aren’t actually friends. You see their posts, but they don’t see yours, sort of like a one-way friendship. It’s an easy way for fans to follow celebrities or public figures, without that person needing to respond in kind.

This does not mean that only celebrities have followers, some people like you and me have followers too because others like what they share publicly and would like to see these posts regularly.

To see who is following you, check out the “About” section on your profile. Scroll down to the “Friends” box and click on “Followers”.

There is another way for people to follow you and that’s when you have unanswered or rejected friend request. If someone requests your friendship via Facebook and you don’t respond, they’ll be following you. People who you unfriend will become your followers too. Friends can unfollow your posts if they do not want to see your posts in their news feed. They do not need to unfriend you.

So, with Facebook followers, you can use your public posts much the same as you would on Twitter, with #hashtags and all. Anyone could be reading them, so keep track of what you’re posting publicly and who can comment on these posts. To have more followers, share interesting and engaging information and make those posts “Public”.